Apparatus for manufacturing tubing



Patented July 18, 1933 I UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE JOHN W. MOON, OFBUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TOFRETZ-MOON TUBE COMPANY, INC., OF BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA,

A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING TUBINGApplication filed July 11, 1927. Serial No. 204,712.

In patents issued to me December 4:, 1923, No. 1,476,537 and No.1,476,632, I have set forth a process and apparatus for producingcontinuous tubing from an endless length of flat skelp whichcontinuously travels through an elongated furnace in which every pointin its length is gradually heated up to or near a welding heat, theskelp being formed into a tube and its edgeswelded together by bendingand welding rolls located just in front of the delivery mouth of thefurnace; these bending and Welding rolls and sizing rolls arrangedbeyond the bending and rolling rolls operating to pull the skelp throughthe furnace. Beyond the sizing rolls the tubing is cut to length by asuitable saw, such as, for example, is disclosed in my application filedMarch 23, 1925, Serial No. 17 ,673. The object of the present inventionis to provide a process and means whereby the severed pipe sectionsmaybe cooled, straightened and delivered to a machine for thread ing theends. Q

In the drawing, which shows a preferred embodiment of the invention-Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of a substantially complete mill.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a detail view of part ofone of the conveyor chains looking inthe direction of the arrow 3 of Fig. 1.

The skelp is continuously pulled through the furnace at wherein it isheated to the desired temperature. It thence passes through the bendingrolls 6, the welding rolls 0, the shaping or preliminary finishing rollsd and the sizing or final finishing rolls 6 c.

Other arrangements of rolls are practicable and permissible. The tubingis cut to length by means of the saw Rollers g convey the cut lengths oftubing (hereinafter called tubes) onto a table 72. arranged at the endof, a conveyor, which transports the tubes latorally in a direction atright angles to their 4 direction of extension and to the direction inwhich the skelp travels through the furnace and 'rolls.

The conveyor comprises a series oi. parallel sprocket-chains is, whichare driven from sprocket wheels 7' on a driving shaft j and are providedwith fingers 2', which engage the tubes and carry them in the directionindicated by the down-pointing arrows in Fig. l.

The upper reach of the conveyor, which is that reach that transports thetubes, travels over a rack comprising upstanding ribs m arranged betweenand parallel to the chains 7: and extending above the level of thechains 7: but below the level of the tops of the conveyor fingers z'.Thereby, the tubes, as they are carried over the rack, rest on the ribsm and roll over and over thereon.

It is clear that by means of the described rack and conveyor adequateprovision is afforded for the circulation of air over the tubes and incontact with all parts of their surfaces. The rack is of such lengththat the tubes are cooled to the desired degree when they reach thetrough n on which they are deposited, one by one, by the conveyor.

Arranged along the bottom of the trough n are positively driven rollers0, which convey' the tubes, one at a time, through a straightener p andthence onto a ridge piece 1" between two inclined tables or skids 9 andt, down one or the other of which the cooled and straightened tubesroll.

At the lower or outsideedgeof skid s is a magazine wand alongside thismagazine is an automatic threading machine of known construction.

At the lower or outside edge of skid t is a table w adapted to receivetubes which it is not desired to thread or which it may be desired tothread by manually operable threadmg means.

The discharge of tubes onto one or the other skid is dependent ontheposition of a lever a2 pivoted at .the far end of the ridge 1", thelever being shiftable in either direction from a central position andacting, when so shifted, as a cam to direct the tubsfrom thestraightener p to one or the other of the skids s and t.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim and desire toprotect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a tube handling device, a ridge piece, a skid extending downwardlyfrom the ridge piece, a table at the lower end of the skid Y theirlengths to the ridge piece, and means for moving tubes from the ridgepiece to the skid, said last named means consisting of a member arrangedto be engaged by the advancing end of a tube to deflect the samesidewise. I

' 3. In a tube handling device; a ridge piece, skids extendingdownwardly from opposite sides of the ridge piece, a table at the lowerends of the skids arranged to receive tubes from the skids, means forfeeding tubes in the direction of their lengths to the ridge piece, andmeans for selectively moving tables from the ridge piece to one or theother of the skids.

4. In a tube handling device, a ridge piece, skids extendin downwardlyfrom opposite sides of. the ri ge piece, a table at the lower ends ofthe skids arranged to receive tubes from the skids, means for feedingtubes in the direction of their lengths to the ridge piece, and meansfor selectively moving tubes from the ridge piece to one or the other ofthe skids, said last named means consisting of a lever movable so as tobe engaged selectively on either side by the advancing end of a tube todeflect the same sidewise.

' JOHN W. MOON.

